The Mission Board meeting was held in the home of Nancy Jo Lopp.

Stephen offered a prayer and then Anne showed us her finished dvd for the African Library Project -- a very moving and artistic accomplishment. We are all so proud of her and the work she and Lesley have done to make this dvd promoting the ALP.

The minutes from the previous meeting were approved. Following this we adjourned to the dining room for dinner, which our leader of many talents had prepared for us (red pepper soup and curry/chard quiche). Yummmmmy!!!

The main subject for the meeting was the Mission Board's special projects. As a basis for the discussion, Anne reviewed the projects that the board contributed to in the past year dividing them into Local/US, International, and Special Projects. It is an impressive list.

We began our discussion with Global Strategies and whether to consider funding a health care worker in Africa. It was agreed to table this decision for now.

The Tanzanian Orphanage was next on the list. Jackie Seymour reported that Jessica had arrived in her village in Tanzania with all the items that had been donated to the orphans. She had not heard whether Jessica had distributed the items yet. Also, Jessica planned to write a grant to get funding for the orphans to build their own beds. We agreed to wait to consider further funding until the grant was written.

Heifer Project - We decided to keep the quarter tube out but to make it more visible. Jackie will ask Mary Ellen McTamaney to make an artistic sign for the tube itself since the current sign has been misplaced. Nancy Jo Lopp will make an announcement in church regarding the Heifer Project on Sunday, March 30th.

CSA Food Co-op -- Jackie explained that CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a system in which consumers agree to buy weekly shares of a local farmer's produce in exchange for getting high quality, organic, sustainably farmed food at a very reasonable price, benefitting both the farmer and the consumer. Jackie had researched all the local CSA's offering food shares and the only one with shares still available was Two Small Farms. Stephen, also interested in supporting local agriculture while obtaining tasty, nutritious produce had called 2 small farms and reported that they were willing to consider doing a drop at the church if we could get 10-20 subscribers. The cost is $20 per week and they advertise a first time offer of a 4 week trial period. Jackie will contact Shelley at 2SF and clarify the details, then send out a blast email to see how many people might be interested. She had already planned to do a blog on CSA and will do that as well so those in areas other than the mountain area near the church will be aware of how they can join a CSA that delivers close to them.

Recycling containers in Whitaker and signage -- Nancy Jo reported that the Loma Prieta Club was unclear about what items were recyclable, and why there seemed to be two trash cans and only a very small recycle container. Stephen said in Santa Cruz Co. most things were recyclable except food waste. Anne said that she received recycling guidelines from Santa Cruz and would provide them to Nancy Jo who agreed to make signs. Jackie agreed to purchase a larger recycling container for Whitaker, and put the current one in Stephen's office. Nancy Jo told us there was actually a cabinet with a space for a recycling can and a trash can in the kitchen area. Nancy Jo will make a sign for that area as well. Those containers or the area near them would also need labels so users can identify them. Either Nancy Jo or Jackie will make sure they are labeled.

African Library Project Book Drive -- Anne said that small organizations such as Skyland Church could do a book drive and the ALP would partner them with another organization so that the total amount of books collected would be on the order of a thousand books which could then be put on a container ship and sent to Africa. The cost of shipping would be on the order of fifty cents per book which would be collected at the time of the drive. Anne who would be the most logical person to be involved with the project was unavailable until May. Everyone is enthusiastic about doing a drive. It was decided that we would show the DVD in Whitaker, do a month long book drive and Anne would write a newsletter article for the May issue. Anne will talk to Kim Gautho to get the youth group involved with this as well. If necessary, any further planning could be done at the next meeting.

Coffee Hour for April -- Anne said that the church council suggested that we assign one person from the board to be responsible for coffee hour each Sunday in April and they should ask someone, preferably someone not already on a board or committee to assist them in being responsible for coffee hour. We will try this and the assignments are:

March 30th - Harold Hoyt, April 6th - Jackie Seymour, April 13th - Anne Evans, April 27th - Jan Parker. Nancy Jo Lopp will be back up. We will report back to Anne so she can report to the board.

One Great Hour of Sharing -- March 23rd, Easter. Nancy Jo had been assigned to do words for the children but we agreed that it might be better to do that on the following Sunday, March 30th, but to keep the theme of "sharing".

Crop Walk -- April 27th, Jan Parker is the lead person for this. Jackie had agreed to do the newsletter article for this but is reconsidered. Jan said she would do this one and Jackie will do the Bread for the World newsletter article due in May.

Looking ahead to May -- Bread for the World will be headed up by Jackie and Jan, Mountain Clean-up will be headed up by Nancy Jo. We will meet with Paula Leary to see how we can help with the Mountain Run.

Giving Booklet -- Jackie reported that Anne had finished the final article on United Campus Ministry and that the booklet is now ready for printing which will be done soon. Since it has been a long time since we included United Campus Ministry in the newsletter, Anne will revise her article for the newsletter in the up coming months.

Next meeting -- Anne will host the next meeting on Monday April 21st, 6PM. Anne will send us all directions to her house. Jan Parker will bring sandwiches or something light and Nancy Jo will bring something sweet.

Stephen gave a closing prayer and the meeting was adjourned.

Like a fine wine, Jan Parker is aging beautifully -- Happy Birthday Jan and thanks for sharing your very delicious birthday cake with us.

Muchos Gracias Nancy Jo for generously hosting our meeting.

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